Sources of product information for Chinese rural consumers

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a recent survey of 1115 respondents from 34 rural counties/villages in 11 Chinese provinces. It investigates consumers’ reaction towards the advertising market by incorporating the use of information sources and perceived source credibility into the advertising effectiveness literature. This is the first time that information about long-overlooked Chinese rural consumers based on probability sampling has become available to western readers. The results show that rural Chinese consumers utilise a variety of information sources when making their purchase decision, and for different product categories different information sources are preferred. Although perceived source credibility is a reliable predictor for information sources use, the most trusted information source might not always be the most used source. While television is by far the most frequent source of information for any type of product, Chinese rural consumers may trust different sources differently, depending on the type of product.